M-Net's MasterChef South Africa cancelled after 3 seasons and a celebrity version; Nederburg test kitchen dismantled, equipment sold.

M-Net's MasterChef South Africa is cancelled with the kitchen dismantled and the equipment sold off, although the pay-TV broadcaster says the show could perhaps return in future.

After 3 seasons of MasterChef South Africa and a celebrity version, M-Net tells TVwithThinus the show is done.

The last time a local version was broadcast on M-Net was when Celebrity MasterChef SA was on air in the first half of 2015.

The end of the show comes after TVwithThinus was told that the beautiful and state-of-the-art test kitchen that was constructed at the Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl in the Western Cape was demolished and the over 20 work stations and equipment sold off on auction.

For filming MasterChef South Africa the 1 000 m² Nederburg auction hall underwent an extensive overhaul which saw over 5 kilometre of underfloor cabling added, and the addition of over 20 cooking stations with new state-of-the-art appliances and utensils.

To create the floors and walls of the MasterChef South Africa kitchen, over 15 tonnes of wood was brought in for the show that was produced by Lucky Bean Media and Quizzical Pictures.

"M-Net will not be doing another MasterChef SA in this fiscal year," M-Net tells me.

"As with other big local productions in the past such as Survivor South Africa, we will continue to reconsider our options going forward".

BREAKING. South Africa shines as M-Net's MasterChef South Africa, StarSat's Puppet Nation ZA and Miners Shot Down doc are nominated for International Emmy Awards.

South Africa is shining with a massive 3 nominations for the 2015 International Emmy Awards with M-Net's (DStv 101) MasterChef South Africa, StarSat's Puppet Nation ZA and the local documentary Miners Shot Down that's all been nominated for this year's awards.

South Africa with 3 nominations forms part of only 19 countries that cracked the nod this year in the 10 categories and the various nominees announced today by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Besides South Africa, Angola is the only other country in Africa to get a nomination for its Jikulumessu in the telenovela category.

The winners will be announced in New York on 23 November at the Hilton New York hotel.

M-Net's MasterChef South Africa cracked a nomination in the reality, or so called "non-scripted" category and is produced by Quizzical Pictures and Lucky Bean Media. It's the second time that MasterChef SA gets an international Emmy nomination after it also snagged a nomination in 2013.

There's been no immediate statement from M-Net.

Puppet Nation ZA (previously called ZA News), produced by Both Worlds and shown on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media South Africa's StarSat on the StarTimes One (StarSat 120) channel, was nominated in the comedy category.

After getting 11 nominations, Puppet Nation ZA earlier this year won 7 Golden Horn trophies at the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) in May.

There's been no immediate statement from StarSat.

The harrowing documentary Miners Shot Down - the Uhuru Productions documentary about the Marikana Massacre produced by filmmaker Rehad Desai - scored a nomination in the documentary category.

The SABC and e.tv have so far refused to broadcast Miners Shot Down but it has been shown on the community TV station Cape Town TV in July and Al Jazeera ((DStv 406 / StarSat 257) both channels of which are carried on MultiChoice's DStv platform.

In August Rehad Desai urged for Miners Shot Down to be broadcast on e.tv and the SABC saying that the film "has become an ever-present symbol of the average South African's struggle to survive in this country".

"Every year, the international television community competes to be recognized for excellence on the International Emmy's global stage," says Bruce L. Paisner, the president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Another Africa related nomination includes Africa’s Wild West: Stallions of the Namib Desert from Austria.

Earlier this year Debora Patta was nominated for a news Emmy for her work as the Africa correspondent for the American TV network CBS on their show, CBS Evening News.

'A perfect recipe': Celebrity MasterChef South Africa press panel talks ego's, philanthrophic food reality TV and the chance of a 4th season.

Following the reveal that comedian Chris Forrest won Celebrity MasterChef South Africa, M-Net held a panel press conference to conclude the celebrity edition of the reality show during a media screening and press event at Montecasino.

The panel consisted of Harriet Gavshon (executive producer), Gideon Khobane (M-Net channel director), Chris Forrest, Patricia Lewis, Donald Clarke (executive producer), and Jane Kennedy (series director).

 TV with Thinus asked how this season managed to find the right blend between reality food TV, celebrities and a strong philanthropic element without having one or the other overshadow the others.

"One thing we want to do was make all the cooks credible, so everyone we got involved were credible cooks," said Donald Clarke from Lucky Bean Media and executive producer of Celebrity MasterChef South Africa.

"For celebrities, they have their careers and their everyday lives, so we wanted to add an extra element that they could play for and that they could really care about."

"The one thing you could see from the show was that Chris Forrest and Patricia Lewis and the others really cared on the show and winning on the show because it didn't just mean that they were able to high-five each other but that they're able to take things further than that and give something to a charity that they believe in."

"The other great thing was that celebrities were able to pick their charities, so they really felt strongly about the causes they were involved in, and I think it was really a lovely edition," said Donald Clarke.

TV with Thinus also asked about ego's - the contestants - and whether the extroverted celebrities displayed bigger ego's behind-the-scenes of Celebrity MasterChef South Africa than ordinary contestants during the previous three seasons of MasterChef South Africa.

"Actually, no," said Harriet Gavshon, Quizzical Pictures director and executive producer of Celebrity MasterChef South Africa. "There were no ego's," she said to laughter from the panel and the press in attendance.

"Once they got in to the kitchen, the celebrities were kind of removed of all of their usual defences, and they were like putty," said Harriet Gavshon.

"I think Pete [Goffe-Wood] and Benny [Masekwameng] ... they had massive ego's that were huge," joked Donald Clarke about the MasterChef South Africa judges. "Such divas," chimed in Ingrid Engelbrecht, M-Net publicist, jokingly.

Asked about the contestants, Jane Kennedy, series director, said all good food reality television starts "with a really good recipe".

"And a really good recipe means that you need a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. And that more than than anything else is what got us to the fantastic 10 people that we landed on having with us on the show."

"Patricia ... how could you resist Patricia? And Chris and Tol Ass Mo as two comedians on the show I think really, really added enormous value to the mix. But not one person could have been replaced with anyone else. It was a perfect recipe," said Jane Kennedy.

With Celebrity MasterChef South Africa "trending" as shared television weekly on social media - as did the finale, as viewers engage with the show on a second screen while they watch, TV with Thinus asked M-Net how important the social media element has become for the pay-TV broadcaster's shows.

How much weight does social media carry now in determining whether a show gets renewed or is deemed a success, and does M-Net now deliberately go for shows that can carry a multimedia, integrated social media and true cross-platform audience engagement?

"Everybody knows that when people watch television, they're watching TV with their phones," said Gideon Khobane, M-Net channel director.

"Some people now watch a whole show on social media, they don't watch it on television. So its obvious that the future is the integration of all the different platforms - television and social media, whether its Facebook and Instagram or Twitter," said Gideon Khobane.

"Obviously Twitter allows itself to tell the story instantly of what's happening. Social media for us ... there's no local M-Net production that doesn't have a social media component. We've now also got a fully-fledged digital team and an M-Net app that looks after all digital aspects of all shows from Big Brother Mzansi to Carte Blanche or MasterChef South Africa."

TV with Thinus also asked M-Net about the possible renewal of MasterChef South Africa for a 4th season on M-Net.

"About a renewal of the series, I don't have an answer about that yet," said Gideon Khobane. "Related to [the renewal or not of] MasterChef South Africa, an announcement will be made in due course".

Finally TV with Thinus asked the panel and the producers whether this season was more difficult from an editing point of view, seeing that celebrities actively seek out the limelight, talk a lot, with the show evening kicking off with kids as well in the first episode, and whether it was henceforth more difficult to edit the content down.

"The great thing about celebrities is they are all personalities and performers and narrate a lot. The problem is that you've got a show where everyone is speaking constantly - so it's about trying to figure out where you can find moments where you can pick people out which is a challenge," said Donald Clarke.

"We never battle to find what you call a sound byte," said Donald Clarke.

"It was a lot of fun editing them. It really was. In the office ... there was constantly laughter coming from every edit suite," said Jane Kennedy, "and you rushed there to see what piece they were cutting. It was a whole lot of fun."


ALSO READ: Comedian Chris Forrest wins Celebrity MasterChef South Africa on M-Net.

REVIEW. Celebrity MasterChef South Africa on M-Net is an over-catered Where the Wild Things Are, filled with tears, kids, charities, and celebrity.

TV with Thinus watched a screener of the first episode of Celebrity MasterChef South Africa starting today, Sunday 8 February at 18:00 on M-Net (DStv 101) - filled to abundance with TV over-catering: heavy with tears, crying, kids and loud, show-offy celebrities.

It's all wrapped in way, way too much product placement (thank you Woolworths, Volkswagen, Nederburg, Robertsons, Tsogo Sun, Kenwood an on and on and on) and you have to wonder why the show can't be done with less, understated sponsors.

Shows like this would be better if M-Net can focus on entertainment and entertainment television first, and cross-promotion business and branding second - instead of the wrong way round.

However, as Sunday food show fare, Celebrity MasterChef South Africa on M-Net is a TV tea garden - enjoyable escapism for an hour done for smiles that the whole family can watch and enjoy.

The show is safe and recognisable. The new "spin-off" season covers familiar territory and several outcomes are predictable (at least in the first episode) where the viewer would be able to guess what's going to happen right through up to the end but which would be spoilers to mention here before the actual broadcast.

Watching the first episode, Celebrity MasterChef South Africa made me think of Maurice Sendak's children's book Where the Wild Things Are - and if you tune in this evening, you'll see why.

In Celebrity MasterChef South Africa, 10 South African celebrities - a cross-section of local famous faces so as to be known to various segments of M-Net's viewing audience - compete in the MasterChef SA kitchen at the Nederburg estate in Paarl over the course of 13 episodes for their various, chosen charities.

Celebrity MasterChef South Africa is executive produced by Harriet Gavshon and Donald Clarke, produced by Quizzical Pictures and Lucky Bean Media.

The action in the first episode of Celebrity MasterChef South Africa takes a while to start and only really starts a quarter of the way in at the 8th minute in the 44 minute long first episode when the celebricooks are tasked with recreation a memorable dish from their childhood.

There's instant put-offs and jarring, non-sensical production clashes in Celebrity MasterChef SA which irritate from the onset but luckily doesn't detract from the overall show.

Probably the biggest eye-roll moment in Celebrity MasterChef South Africa is due to bad product placement in the production.

When judge Pete Joffe-Wood for instance tell the contestants for the childhood dish challenge they have an open pantry with "the entire range of Nederburg wines at your disposal" as a TV critic I want to ask humbly: what childhood dish ever contained wine and Nederburg wine?

The first part up to the 8th minute is the various introductions to the celebritestants and their various charities. Also be forewarned: These people are not your ordinary garden-variety contestants: They're talkers, and everybody wants to talk. And they're loud.

Their strong personas are luckily offset by the introduction (cue the cute factor) of little "mini-me's": tweens selected to be replicas of the contestants (the poor producers: working with celebrities and children!)

Like contestant Terence Bridgett says of his late mom's lasagna in the first episode - Celebrity MasterChef South Africa is "an over-caterer".

The show's debut episode has deliberately been constructed to be heavy on TV's version of sugar: tears, cute kids and charities (with more kids).

The MasterChef and MasterChef SA comfort food is still there: contestants battling against the clock and limited time to create concoctions critiqued by celebrity chefs who keep hovering during challenges to up the stress levels.

Celebrities who have kids themselves come across as calmer and more grounded, and the interaction moments with the kids are all adorable (although in the back of your mind you know you're being mercilessly manipulated).

It will be interesting to see whether Celebrity MasterChef South Africa can maintain the emotion in the kitchen during further episodes without this ingredient (look out for multiple in-jokes like a kid literally stirring the pot).

At the end of the first episode judge Pete Joffe-Wood says "the time for kindergarden cooking is over".

For Celebrity MasterChef SA on M-Net, as the saying goes, the proof will be in the pudding.